sincerely and truly affirm what we affirm without dissembling oaths vows or the like in our ordinary talk And secondly I answer that this asseveration was but a more graduall Yea and vehement than ordinary or a more intensive Yea And thirdly this were upon a weighty point otherwise Christ did not use it and so in him it was no offence he did not sinne neither was any guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2.22 Blasphemy therefore was that of the Pharisees who said that they knew that this man was a sinner Iohn 9.24 Then Jesus answered and said verily verily I say unto thee I am the way the truth and the life John 14.6 and no man comes unto the Father but by me I am the Way without wandring the Truth without errour the Life without death yea I am the Resurrection and the Life if any man beleeve in me though he were dead yet should be live John 11.25 I that am the good Shepheard that lay down my life for my sheepe I say unto thee therefore mark what I say 1. Unto thee blind Pharisee that had too much conceit of the knowledge of the Law or else thou might have had more knowledge of the Gospel 2. A man ignorant of a main necessary Truth namely of the new Birth of regeneration and continuing without this might have dyed and bin damned in Hell-Fire 3. Unto thee halting between two opinions between Moses and the Messias whether thou shouldest imbrace wheras if thou had beleeved Moses thou had beleeved me for he writ of me yet 4. unto ye because though weak yet mindfull to be made stronger therefore I will not despise thee nor loath the tediousnesse of teaching of thee for thus it was prophesied of me Esa 42.3 a bruised reed shal be not breake nor smoaking Flax shall he quench such art thou and I will fulfill the Prophesie 5. Lastly I say unto thee though thou came unto me by night when I should have reposed my self and have taken rest an unseasonable time yet I upbraided thee not nor stood upon it with thee nor reproved thee for incivility but seeing thou was so fearfull and weak thou durst not come by day I 'le receive thee kindly take pains with thee and teach thee by night this for the first part The second followes the change of life specified Except a man be born again this again notes once being born before so that hence it appears that there is a double Birth as in Scripture we reade of a double death the first and the second Death The first is nothing but separation of soul from body the second is a separation both of body and soule from God eternally Revel 2.11 He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death and what this second is you may further see Rev. 21.8 In the Scriptures we also read of a double Resurrection 1. and 2. Rev. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection of such the second death hath no power The first Resurrection I conceive as do many others to be the resurrection from the dead estate of sinne to newnesse of life so that the first Resurrection is the second Birth Ephes 2.1 there is a spirituall Death and from that a spirituall Resurrection And you hath he quickned that were dead in trespasses and sins and this quickning was in Christ v. 5.1 Pet. 1.23 being born a nâ—w not of mortal Seed for so is our Naturall Birth So is our first Birth but of immortall by the Word of God who liveth and endureth for ever there is our second Birth far more noble than our first Luke 8.11 the Seed is the Word of God In this Birth they have power to be the Sons of God John 1.12 and they are said to be borne of God 1 Io. 5.1 because they are born anew by the working of Gods holy Spirit in them this is the change of life being born thus again except a man be borne againe 1. This being born again is that which few men eye but at being borne Claro de Stemmale of some noble race oâ— bâ—oud that pustes us up as if we were more than men I remember I have somtimes read a passage between an upstart Gentleman and a faccâ—tious Herald the Herald perswaded this Gentleman of the first Head that he was able to derive his Pedigree lineally from Adam This parchment Gentleman was very importunate to have it effected but upon second thoughts the Herald told him he had better remain as he was because the nearer quoth he that we come unto Adam such poor men as I shall be found of kinne to you Truly spoken all mankind rich and poore are made of the same Elements 2. All of them have soules given them of God that are immortall 3. All are born naked there is no King that hath any other Birth 4 All are equally subject to death the Poet truly observed as much when he said aequopede puisat mors pauperum tabernas regumque turres 5. All are equally subject to be turned again into dust and to be dissolved into their first principles and what better dust do the rich make then the poore The Scriptures tells us that God made of one blood all Nations under Heaven Diogenes therefore to quell the pride of A exander whâ— bore himself so much by his discent when he heard that be was to march that way got him into the place wherein his father Philip had bin buried and busied himself in tumbling over dead mens bones with the end of his staffe whom when Alexander saw he must needes know the reason of his imployment I said Diogenes am here seeking the bones of Philip thy Father but they are so like to poor mens that I cannot know them This might give Alexander an hint what his pride would come to after his death Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return belongs to all men alike though in civill respects God makes a difference as by qualification of mind or exaltation to office or by the meritorious managing of some humane affairs c. and herein honour to whom honour belongs Yet alas small advantage will this be to them in any spirituall respect or in matter of salvation for in this sense God is no respecter of persons Acts 10.34 Therefore though they may own the former birth yet let them labour for the second and take more delight in it and bee more thankfull to God for their personall worth than for their lineall the former may be advantagious for the next world but the latter only for this Nam genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi vix eanostra voco as the Poet That which our kindred and fore-fathers have done in which we have had no hand we can scarcely own for ours So that as Christ said of food I say of bloud labour not for the food that perisheth so labour not for the bloud that perisheth It 's
mistaking that place Mat. 3.11 but that was fulfilled Acts 2.3 when cloven tongues of fire fell upon the Apostles Niceph. lib. 3. hist eap 3.4 tells us of one that was baptized with sand but when it was known to the Church he was further baptized The former was not sufficient because it had not Christs prescription for his was the Element of Water who as it is the most common liquor to wash filthinesse from the body so it most fitly resembles Christs bloud to wash away all manner of filthinesse from the soule Ezek. 16.6 God saw the people of Israel in their blood and in their filthinesse in that corrupt state of nature that every man is born in but verse 9. Out of His meere mercy He washed her with Water and annointed her with Oyl that was the graces of his holy Spirit So here a man must be born again of Water and the Spirit As for the circumstances of Baptisme they are not so much materiall whether the whole body be dipped in water or it be sprinkled upon the Party In the Primitive Times and especially in those hot countries the whole body was put in water as now it s buried under the ground hence Rom. 6.4 they were said to have been buried with Christ in their Baptisme unto his death and the taking of them up again which presented our resurrection concerning which you may reade more at large in the Counsels of Laodicea and Neocesaria But we must know that many of ripe yeeres were then baptized that were able to indure it and for Infants the Country was hotter but now where Infants onely are baptized and such as are in cold Countries diving their whole bodies into the waters were enough to bury them indeed oâ— cause them to dye not onely to baptize them Againe in those times some dipped them thrice into the vvaters some but once of those that dipped them thrice some would signifie Christs three dayes lying in the grave as Tertull and Cypr. others the Trinity in whose name they were baptized those that dipped but once would signifie the unity in Trinity but wee stand not upon these And even as a man can but be once born naturally no more can he but bee once born spirituall which in the Text is called being borne again grosse therefore is the opinion and practice of the Anabaptists who re-baptize their prosylited into their errour St. Cypr. fell about rebaptizing of Heretiques against whom Cornelius did justly oppose himselfe c. In this Baptisme the Papist say that originall sinne is so taken away that after it it s but an occasion of sinne but we say with St. Aug. whom all orthodox Divines in this point have followed tollitur reatu remanet actu though the guilt of it betaken away in elect Infants yet it remaines a sinne as a Serpent remains a Serpent when his sting is gone yet cannot kill and it s kept under and diminished in the faithfull by degrees Epiphanius compares it to a Tree growing in the Walls of some stately building which may bee lopped and kept under but the root vvill never be pulled out untill the Wall be pulled down no more will originall sinne untill the body and soule bee pulled asunder by death Originall sinne remains a sinne in the Elect and regenerate after Baptisme Yet secondly the guilt of that sinne is taken away in elect Infants And ordinarily in baptisme where it is compleat If I had not bin occasioned to the handling of these two points I should not have fallen so fully upon them but the most vvise God hath his providence in every thing I shall point a little at Originall sinne and then come home to the point And in it we vvill first consider the quod sit that it is and secondly the quale sit what it is for the former briefly Ephes 2.3 natura filii irae and vvere by nature the children of vvrath that is by reason of our corrupt nature infected vvith originall sinne and Rom. 7.23 There was a Law in Pauls members rebelling against the Law of his mind c. by vvhich Lavv of his members is meant vitiositas naturae the corruption of his nature which did inhaerere stick in them and as a Law irritated him to what was evill 2. The quale what such it is It s a defect of Originall justice with an aptitude to all manner of evill haereditarily come upon us by vertue of Adams guilt The Schoole Divines make two branches of it and in it consider the materiale and the formale the muteriale they conceive to be concupiscence the formale the defect of originall Justice or privation of it thus Aquinas and his followers who were both many acute and learned though other wise carried â—â—ay with the errours of their times In his pr. sec qu 82. art 3. in corporit calce thus in particular Cajetan Alexander Alensis Durandus this infected the whole man both in all the faculties of the soule or organs of the body as instruments to vent execute that inward corruption and this is the Doctrine of all our Orthodox Divines And Aquinas herein said well in his pr. sec qu 82. art 2. ad jum in peccato originali virtualiter praeexistant omnia peccata actualia sicut in quodam principio In originall sinne all our actuall sins do praeexist as in a certain common root or principle but I would be briefe in every passage And seeing that this is an haereditary disease or inhaerent corruption in our nature not the substantiall nature it selfe first hence Illyricus was much to blame who in his book de essentia justitiae and injustitiae originalis atque etiam in tractatu quodam adjuncto disputationi quam habuit cum Victorino Strigetio vivariae held that originall sinne was a substance a daemone factam made by the Devil which was viva essentialis ejus imago his living and essentiall Image not much unlike that of the Maniches asserted by Augustine Tom 7. lib. 6. contra Julianum cap. 1. Aug. in quod vult Deum haeres 88. who held that it was extranea mali naturanostrae naturae admixta 2. Hence the Pelagians are condemned who denied originall sinne in Infants contrary to Rom. 5.12 3. The Anabaptists Armenians and Albaneuses as Castrensis hath it lib. 12. haeres And now I come to the point that it remains in the regenerate as a sinne even after baptisme Amesius Tom. 4. lib. 2. Bell. enervati cap. 3. affirmes it to be sinne in such properly And in the Argument of that booke in the name of the reformed Churches 2. Mr. Rogers on the Articles of Religion condcluded for the Church of England whose propositions thence deduced were printed by authority Anno 1585. and 87. upon the 9. Art concerning originall sinne Proposition 3. Originall sinne remains in Gods children 3. Perkins in the order of causes page 98. It s the root of all actuall sinne and therefore even after baptisme saith he it
must properly be a sinne in the 9. Art before quoted it selfe this infection of nature doth remain even in them that are regenerate plainly avouched by the publique Doctrine of our Church grounded on Scripture which testimony ought to go beyond any particulars And 5. how often doth Paul manifest as much in himself Rom. 7. calling it non bonum malum odio habendum crucifigendum mortificandum repugnans legi divinae destruendum miserum reddeus cui in est ver 14. Hee said hee was carnall sold under sinne and v. 20.21 Sinne yet dwells in me and evill that was still present to hinder good 6. Piscator in locum Obs 8. this saith he is corruptio naturae the corruption of our nature atque etiam Synec dochice peecatum originis originall sinne And Obs ultima a quo renati perpetuo vexantur of which the regenerate are continually troubled See also v. 24. it s a body of death which he would gladly have been delivered from it was out of measure sinfull v. 13.2 Cor. 12.7 He had a thorn in the flesh a Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which though hee praid against often yet God wold not remove it from him but told him his grace was sufficient for him Jam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawne aside of his own lust and enticed and Jam. 4.1 Whence are wars and contentions are they not from lusts that fight in your members which place the Geneva note collates with the Law in our Members Rom. 7.23 and so Piscator in locum 7. how plentifull is St. Augustine in this point lib. 1. contraduas Epist Pelag cap. 1. as also in his Booke against Julian and the like what man of any reading in him knows not lib. 1. de nuptiis concupiscentiis ad velerium cap. 25. answering the qu quomodo concupiscentia carnis maneat in regenerato in quo universorum facta est remissio peccatorum c. ad haec respondetur dimitti concupiscentiam carnis in baptismo non ut non sit sed ut in peccatum non imputetur Original sin remains after baptisme in the regenerate but is not imputed to condemnation So that though there be aliquid damnabile in renatis natura sua yet not damnandum because non imputandum And quamvis reatu suo jam soluto manet tamen donec sanctur omnis infirmitas nostra although the guilt of originall sinne bee taken away in the regenerate yet it still remains sinne till we be cured of all sinne by death and lib. 1. ad valerium cap. 26. illius concupiscentiae quando remittitur reatus aufertur when the guilt is remitted it is so taken away that it cannot hurt or condemne us and on the contrary actuall sinne though this be transient yet so long as the guilt of them remaines untaken away in the regenerate they are damnable therfore saith he actuall sins although praeterierunt actu yet manent reatu in the wicked but originall sinne maneat actu praetereat reatu in the regenerate The act of sinne may passe away and the guilt remains in the unregenerate but on the contrary the guilt of originall sinne is taken away in the regenerate and yet it remains a sinne And cap. 30.31 he followes those passages at large mentioned Rom. 7. Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the Spirit c. and these are contrary now except it remained a sin though daily weakned by the power of the Spirit there should be no combate And lib. 5. contra Julianum cap. 3. concupiscentia carnis adversus quam bonus concupiscit Spiritus peccatum est causa peccati paena peccati concupiscence of the flesh against which the Spirit of God doth fight is both sinne the cause of it and punishment of it sinne because it rebels against the Law of the Mind Punishment because it was put upon the disobedience as its reward and desert Cause of all actuall as we have heard for omnia nostra peccata immediate proveuiunt a corrupta nostra natura ac a diabolo ipsa medianti Polan lib. 6.3 achoriston inseparabile nisi morte all our actuall sinnes do arise immediately from our corrupt nature and upon that the Devill works us to wickednesse I might adde many more testimonies both out of St. Aug. the Scriptures and the learned of the reformed Churches than out of all these I have done but these make the point plain enough To these I added the publique doctrine of our Church to which I adde the confessious of other Churches as that of Basil art 2. of the Reformed in France which is the same with that of Geneva art 11. of Saxony art 10. of Helvetia art 1. cap. 8. to which adde Aquin. himselfe pr. sec qu. 81. art 3. ad jum So that I hope it s no blasphemy to affirm that Originall sinne remains a sinne even in the regenerate after Baptisme the guilt of it having been taken away But now to affirme the contrary that it remaines no sinne after Baptisme but that both the guilt and stain is taken away in it is downright Popery For so Councell of Trent sect 5. the Pontificians do hold as Bellarm greg de valentia lib. de peccato originali cap. 8. Estius in lib. 2. sent dist 32. sect 3. lit C. and so the rest holding it a defect or weaknesse or a fitting the heart or disposing it to sinne as tinder that is no fire but disposed soone to receive it without much opposition and is not causa peccati nisi obediatur but I answer that nothing can be the cause of sinne per modum habitus interni by way of an internall habit and not bee a sinne it selfe for as an internall cause inclining to good is good so by the like reason an internall inclining to evill is evill Again all unrighteousnesse is sinne such is it Againe primi motus sunt illiciti it differs from the rule of the Law therefore sinne and these are ejusdem rationis cum peccato originali of the same nature with originall sinne But they say Rom. 8.1 there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ so say we yet there is some what worthy of condemnation in them if God should impute it but the guilt being taken away it is pardoned Ob. 2. Deum nunquam remittere reatum manente peccato God will never remit the guilt and yet the sinne remain saith Bell. Amesius answers and I am sure hee was no Papist Deus quando remittit non judicat peccatum non esse sed ex gratia judicat non esse vindecta pro se quendum when God remits the guilt of originall sinne hee doth not judge it to be no sinne but of his grace and favour hee so remits it that it shall never be persecuted by divine vengeance Ob. 3. It s no more I but sinne that dwells in me that is peccatum naturae the sinne of nature non personae not of the person In the first
or more moderate Schoolmen as Bonaventure in this point and others upon the 4. of the Sentences make not Baptisme of so absolute necessity as if none could be saved without it But whereas they make a threefold Baptisme Baptismus fluminis Baptismus flaminis Baptismus sanguinis a Baptisme with Water a Baptisme with the Spirit and a Baptisme with blood a Baptisme with Water as here in the Text a Baptisme with the Spirit Luke last 49. Act. 2.4 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost a Baptisme with blood Luke 12.50 I must be baptized with a Baptisme and how am I streitghtned untill it be ended Now they say that baptisme of blood may suffice where a man is crowned with Martyrdom ex motu charitatis and cannot have the other 2. With the Baptisme of the Spirit Luke 23.43 The good Theife that was a Christian that dyed so was not baptized with Water but with the Spirit by which he beleeved that Christ was able to save him 3. Voto When a man hath an earnest and hearty desire to it and yet is prevented by death Thus Valentinian the Emperour sending for St. Ambros to baptize him yet dyed before he taught him being but in the way Ambros was not afraid to say that he was baptized voto and was in caelo in Heaven to the same effect St. August lib. 4. contra Donatestas cap. 22.23 and its worth our observation Mat. 16.16 in this point He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Some might object what needs a man baptizing if he beleeve The Scripture tells us he needs and you have heard of many that beleeved before yet must be baptized then it follows but he that beleeveth not shall be damned It s not said he that beleeveth not and is not baptized So then where the Text saith except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit we must not understand it absolutely but in some respect that is when God offers it and we may have it if no then he cannot enter For as St. Bernard hath it Epist 77. it s not omnis deprivatio baptismi but contemptus or palpabilis neglectus not every deprivation of baptisme but contempt or palpable neglect when God gives time enough and we will not take it the death of such a man without it is fearfull 2. Consider to whom Christ speaks in this Text to Nicodemus a man of ripe yeers The immediate subject of Baptisme Except such a one be born of Water and the Spirit in such a case as you have heard he cannot enter for Baptisme is alwayes necessary necessitate praecepti in regard that God hath commanded it though not alwayes absolutely necessary necessitate medii thus much for ripe yeers especially and de ecclesia constituenda Now de ecclesia constituta of a Church constituted wherein all that are of ripe yeers are actuall Christians in such a Church Infants themselves are the immediate subject of Baptisme though I know that in the primitive Times or in the Times of the ancient Fathers many men that professed Christ would not be baptized till neere their death because they thought that by Baptisme all their sins were washed away which they had committed before it and if they had been baptized sooner they were afraid to have sinned again not well considering the vertues of it afterward this they did de facto but it was not commendable in them nor should be imitable by us though their intent was honest Now of Infants that dye without Baptisme what shall we say of them shall we account them all for damned that dye without Baptisme with Water as rigid Papists do or bury them on the North side of the Church where no Sun can shine on them to signifie that no Light of Heaven nor Sun-shine of Gods countenance belongs unto them Surely no it s an harsh an uncharitable opinion for Gods eternall election cannot be over-turned for want of the outward element where it cannot be had God having deprived them of it in taking them away by death It s true St. August was of this opinion Ep. 28. ad Hieron and 106. contra Pelagianos And lib. 1. de anima cap. 9. disputing against Vincentius Victor urgeth this Text To which I answer 1. That St. August was driven upon this rock of extremity by the Pelagians importunity who denying that Infants were born in originall sinne he had no better Arguments than Baptisme for one to shew the contrary for if not uncleane then they stood in no need of washing 2. I answer That St. August did as vvell arre in the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper lib. 1. de peccatorum meritis cap. 20. that it was necessary also to salvation for Infants to receive being mistaken from John 6. v. 53. See Maldonate in 6. Johannis how long this errour remained in the Church yet since the Councell of Trent hath condemned it and the practice of the Christian World is to the contrary But Rom. 11.16 If the Roote be holy so are the Branches If the Parents be holy we are to thinke the best in charity of their Children till they come to yeers of discretion and declare the contrary Gen. 17.7 God established a Covenant with Abrahams Seed as well as Abrahams selfe 1 Cor. 7.14 If either of the Parents be sanctified the Children are said to be holy 2. We know that the Infants under the Lavv vvere not to bee circumcised before 8. days old novv vvho knovves not that many of them dyed before that time and yet vve read not that they might be circumcised before it Now if all had been damned that wanted circumcision then had God beene unmercifull to his Creature to prevent this but this we know he is not the like we may conceive of Infants dying before they were baptized by water Mat. 2.16 Herod slew the Males in Bethlem and in the Coasts thereof of two yeeres old and under now its probable that many of those were so young that they were uncircumcised yet the Papists acknowledge they dyed Martyrs in Christs cause and were saved 3 Josh 5.5 By the space of 40. yeeres in the wildernesse they were not circumcised because Moser still waited for removeall and so they being sore were not so fit for it Now if all those that dyed there had been damned Moses and Aaron had been guilty of an horrible sin 4. And lastly wee know that in the Primitive Times they baptized but twice a yeer at Easter and Whitsuntide which they would not have done if the Popish Divinity had been true but this is no warrant forus to deferre baptisme when it may be had but we are to use the means seasonably which God hath prescribed so Cyp. ad fidum to take care for new born Infants Ep 3. The Element must be Water none else not Milke nor Wine nor Sand nor the like St. Aug tells us of Seleucus and Hermias two Heretiques that baptized with an hot Iron
to send out the prayer of Faith for it And page 643. to such as dye Infants giving that Spirit which works either Faith or some thing proportionable for their justification regeneration sanctification and salvation In the latter which survive and live to discretion vvorking the seeds and inclination of Faith which in due time shall fructifie to Eternal Life See Polan lib. 6. cap. 55. quo promissa est gratia invisibilis exhibetur Wallebius in compendio Theol. lib. 1. cap. 23. Fidem non secus ac rationem habent acsi non in fructu tamen insemine radice c. They have Faith as they have Reason though not in the act and exercise of it yet in the Root of Seed or it they have virtuall petentiall and inclinative Faith and they have it in Actu primo saith Walleb seeing they have spiritum fidei the Spirit of Faith though not in actusecundo Prosp de vocatione gent. lib. 1. cap. 18. Originem verae justitiae in regenerationis Sacramento positam esse ut vbi homo tenascitur ibi etiam ipsarum virtutum veritas Oriatur Yea some moderne Divines have afforded them the habit of Faith Polan synagmat lib. 9. cap. 6. though others cannot see how that should be of which never after any shew without new instruction Estius in lib. 4. Sent d. 4. sect 6. calls it habitum sopitum or qualitatem quiescentem which saith he constituat vere credentes sperantes diligentes c. although it cannot actuate except the impediment of the age be removed and externall doctrine or instruction accede by the outward senses I say thus that if by an habit bee meant an inchoat habit infused it may be true but not of a perfect habit for then the former exception may take place but an inchoate habit and a disposition to a perfect one are all one for Disposition and Habit thus differ not specie but gradu as tempor fervor and thus in effect It s no more then what we heard before the School-men that follow Aquin. part 3. qu. 69. art 6. in corpore say thus for their perfect habit the impotentia operandinon accidit pueris ex defectu habituum sed ex impedimento corporali even as men that are sleeping they have the habits of vertue though whilst such they cannot exercise them Taylor on Titus page 939. in his doctrine in Calce God in baptisme not onelyoffers and signifies but truly exhibiteth grace c. and that vertuall and inclinative beliefe in them is acceptable to God in Christ as actuall in aedu tis it savours therefore too strongly of an Anabapticsticall conceipt to think that Infants are not capable of inward graces of baptisme unlesse they had actuall Faith St. August To 3. in enchirid ad laurent cap. 54. Baptism itis munere quod contra origin ale peccatum donatum est ut quod generatione attractum est regeneratione detrahatur and a little after unde incipit hominis renovatio here mans renovation begins And Tom. 7. lib. 1. de peccatorum meritis cap. 9. speaking of the Pelagians denying originall sinne Hinc enim etiam in paroulis nolunt credere per Baptismun solvi originale peccatum they will not beleove that Originall sinne is is taken away in children by baptisme lib. 2. cap. 28. Although Law of concupiscence remain in our members manente ipsa reatus ejus solvitus though it abide yet the guilt of it is taken away and then it followes sed eisolvitur qui Saccamentum regenerationâ—s accaepit renov â—â—ique jam caepit its taken away in such as have received the Sacrament of regeneration and now have begun to be renewed lib. 6. contra Julianum ergo quia parvuli baptizantur in Christo peccato moriuntur a potestate tenebrarum ubi natura filii ira fucrant erunutur Children are baptized in to the death of Christ and dye to sinne and although by nature they were the children of wrath yet are they hereby plucked out of the power of darknesse lib. 1. contra 2. Ep. Pelag. cap. 13. ipsa carniâ— concupiscentiain baptisme sic dimittitur ut quanquam tract a sit a nascentibus nihil noceat renascentibus concupiscence in baptisme is so taken away that though it be contracted to posterity yet it hurts not the party regenerate lib. de nuptiiâ— cap. 23. haec in qu am concupiscentia quae sola Sacramento regenerationis expiatur c. Martyr loc com clas 4. cap. 8. sect 2. cham lib. 5. de Sacr. cap. 4. par 6. Cal. Institutionum lib. 4. cap. 14. sect 17. Gerar. voss Thes Theol. de paedo baptismo pant 1. Thes 15. Musclai com q. 1. sect 8. Junius de paedo bapt thes 10. August Tom. 3. lib. 14. de Tul. cap. 17. This concupiscence which by the onely Sacrament of Baptisme is expiated or purged namely front the guilt and by the Sacrament as you have heard is then meant the thing signified as well as the signe Nazianzen in laudem Gorgonii calls it divinae bonum the good of divine beginnings Athanasius in his book of Questions dedicated to Antiochus qu. 2. propounds this when a man may know that he hath beene baptized and received the Spirit in Baptisme being but an Infant when he was baptized Answ osper oun en gastri labousa gune even as a woman may know that she is conceived with child when there is life Even so a Christian by the springing of his heart in solemn dayes of Baptisme and the Lords Supper and by the inward joyes he then conceives oti to pneuma to agion elabe baptistheis that he received the Holy Ghost when he was Baptized-Chrysost Hom. 1. in Acta Oti to curiotaten to pneuma esti di hou cai to vdor energei in Baptisme the Spirit is the chiefe by which the water becomes effectuall not as any proper cause or any Phyficall Instrument as you have heard Basil de spiritu sancto cap. 10. answers to the question how Christians are saved dia tes en too Baptismati caritos by the grace he received in Baptisme St. Hierom. lib. 3. dialogorum contra Pelagianos asking in cavelling manner why Infants are Baptized answers vt ijs peccata in baptismate dimittantur that their sins might be remitted in Baptisme See further St. Aug. Ep. 23. ad Bonifacium and the godly and learned Mr. Prinne in his Perpetuity page 354. To which I adde learned Dr. Whittaker de Sacramentis ingenere qu. 4. cap. 2. respon ad testimonium septimum Deus in Baptismo signifieat remissionem peccatum sanae ita re operatur veritas cum signo conjuncta est in electis God both signifies remission of sins in Baptisme and indeed so works it in the Elect yet the truth of the signe is joyned with it this also Dr. Fran. White makes good against Fisher page 176. God doth not use to mock his people with empty signes but by his power inwardly makes good what
alwayes absolutely necessary respectu medii but necessary in some respect where God offers it and men may have it But this baptisme by the Spirit or regeneration by some means or other is absolute necessary none ever was or shall be saved without it 1 Cor. 6.9 Know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God c. The reason is because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Rev. 21. last and there shall enter into it no unclean thing Now we are all unclean by nature Ephes 2.3 and we by nature saith St. Paul were the children of wrath as well as others that is by our corrupt nature being born with Adams guilt upon us so that wee may all cry as the Lepers did under the Law I am unclean I am unclean Lev. 13.45 and as the Lord said to Jerusalem so may we say to you O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be and you have heard how this cleansing must be by regeneration 1 Cor. 6.11 having spoken of grosse sins he addes And such were some of you but ye are washed ye are sanctified q.d. Without this washing this sanctifying this cleansing yee had been in the same estate with the unrighteous and so could not have inherited Heaven Well is this so that regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation this then may first afford us an Use of exhortation for every one of us to use the means to be regenerate if we mean to be saved Be diligent in hearing Gods Word taught reade good bookes of practicall Divinity and of such men as have writ for thee that which they have found by experience in themselves frequent Prayer desire it from others to pray for thee that God would come and make himselfe knowne to thee God workes by means and not by any means but by such as are of his owne directing If wee use these means Gods blessing is ready to attend them and make them effectuall to as many as he will save Secondly If so then an Use of Reproofe to such as dream of salvation and say they hope for it as well as the best when in the mean time they labour not for regeneration but hates the meanes God hath ordained to save them by and cannot indure those that use them but revile them and slander them and persecute them because they affect not any such goodnesse themselves Or else 2. they use but the meanes in part and have not a care to share in all the Ordinances of God if they practice one they will not another if they heare they have no great mind to remember or practice accordingly or to joyn prayer to it that 's a wearinesse to the flesh before they durst not quando satis fuit criminis fuesse bonum when it was matter enough of accusation to have been good but now by Gods mercy they may but because its wearisome to the flesh though great comfort to the conscience they decline if Or 3. if more amply yet but of custome and superficially not as in conscience and as in obedience to Gods direction or in care to grow in grace o out of any experimentall sweetnesse they have found in the Ordinances 3. And lastly if so then an Use of Justification of such as have a care 〈◊〉 labour for regeneration and experience of Gods love in Christ so they must either do or be damned it s a matter of no lesse consequence then life and death Suppose a man had committed such a capitall Crime as for which he knew by the Law he was to be hanged or should suffer some shamefull kind of death oh how would it break his sleepe and how would he imploy all his friends how would he ride and run night and day to procure his freedome or pardon which his deeds had merited and all this but to free him from a temporall death Well and every unregenerate sinner in that estate is in as great danger of Hells eternall Torments for the sinne he hath done as this man is of his temporall death Oh! doth it not concern them thon to be disquieted in mind on the night seasan to procure the prayers of all their friends to fast pray cry and what not and say with those heart-pricked Jewes Act. 2.37 Men and Brethren what shall wo doe to be saved who would raile against such a man as he saw to he troubled or to run and ride to save himselfe from a temporall Death yet so shamelesse are many wicked men that they revile and raile against such men as they see thus troubled to escapean eternall death Fooles and blind how long will it be ere they understand the errour of their way how long would they be taught how should they see their errour and cry mightily unto God for the pardon of it Seeing then that regeneration is of absolute necessity to salvation let us lay downe some motives to inflame our affections to be in love with that estate First God himself is much affected with it if therefore we would sympathize with him let us be so too Great men what they affect their servants either affect the like or at leastwise make show of it to the end that sympathizing with their Lords they may obtaine more favour from them Well and God I say is in love with this estate 1 Thes 4.3 This is thr will of God even your sanctifieation and Rom. 6.12 he would not have sinne to raign in your mortall bodies The second motive may be the reward that men shall have when the work is over though this be painfull yet the reward is gainfull Rom. 8.13 If ye morrifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit ye shall live not as Nestor tertiam aetatem hominum as long as 3. men in this life present but eternall in the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable to all things which hath both the promise of this life and of that which is to come The third that Christ may attaine his end in dying for them Titus 2.14 which was that he might redeeme us from all our iniquity and purge us to be a peculiar people to himselfe zealous of good workes performe them not coldly or outwardly but zealously and conscionably for as St. Augustin and Bernard haze spoken though they be not causa regnandi yet they are viâ—â—d regnum though they be not the cause of reigning yet they are the way hither and the Apostle tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus to good workes that wee should walk in them I now come to the last point in the Text the reason of the other for that which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit First for the former branch quod natum est excarne caro est that wich is born of the flesh is flesh It s worth our observation that when our Saviour had told Nicodemus the necessity of
see how a truth may lye in a Text which carnall eyes cannot discover though otherwise learned But this will not hold that because they before Christ could not ergo not wee 2. That carnall eyes could not ergo not those that are illuminated by Gods holy Spirit and being the righteous to whom he reveales his secrets these could never be so far over-sighted but if the light came from the Scripture they would see it as well as others yet the most excellent of them cannot finde this new pretended light justified there so much for that point I now come to the last That which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Our Saviour having showne Nicedemus the necessity of regeneration stayed not as you have heard to see whether hee would aske a reason of it or no but willingly renders one as also the manner of it of Water and the Spirit without which you have heard he could not enter Now if our Saviour had not said thus man might have imagined that he might have gone to Heaven by his owne Wisdome or civill righteousnesse or humane strength or depth of Learning or the like nay alas whatsoever is in a man naturally or from mans naturall strength will not do it for so he is but flesh Quod natum est excarne caro est That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh These words are dark we must therefore draw the vaile of them and then we shall the more cleerely conceive of them the Flesh in Scriptures is taken in severall senses it vvill be our labour therefore to finde out the true sense of it in this place First the Flesh in Scriptures is sometimes put for this present Life 1 Peter 4.2 the Apostle would have men for the space of their lives yet unspent for as much time as remained in the Flesh not to live after the lusts of men but after the will of God and 1 Phil. 1.24 It s better for you saith the Apostle that I abide in the Flesh that is in this present life Secondly we are sometimes to understand the body of Flesh the one essentiall part of man Levit. 19.28 Yee shall not cut your flesh for the dead nor make any print of a marke upon you either by burning lashing or flashing as the Gentiles did I have not thus taught you to hate your flesh neither can this any way benefit the dead Thirdly by the flesh we are somtimes to understand the humane nature of CHRIST 1 Peter 3.18 He was put to death concerning the Flesh that is in his humane nature for in his divine nature he could not suffer that supported his humane nature in his suffering Fourthly for the unregenerate estate of a man when he is in his corrupt nature which he drew from Adam and in many actuall sinnes drawne from that unhappy roote thus Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man because he is but Flesh that is a corrupt and sinfull creature naturally devoid of grace and that which is born of this flesh is flesh like unto it for Job 14.4 who can bring a clean thing out of filthinesse there is not one but of sinfull nature is born sinfull nature Gen. 5.3 It s said that Adam lived one hundred and thirty yeere and begot a sonne in his owne likenesse after his owne Image and called his name Sheth that is he was like him in Sex 2. Humano specie in humane shape in all the members of the body 3. And lastly after his Image in the corruption of nature for he had corrupted and defaced that Image of GOD after which he was created which was in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4.24 for the most principall part of Gods Image did consist in these and so did not beget a sonne in that Iniage in which GOD created him but in his likenesse and after his Image such a one as by sinning he had made himselfe here was ex earne caro flesh of flesh quod natum est ex earne card est that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh thus againe Rom. 8.5 they that are after the Flesh doe savour the things of the Blesh that is those that are as yet in their unregenerate estate they affect those courses the most that suite the best with the corruptions of nature they are in love with them and doe the most delight in them and cannot endure to be crossed in them yet verse 6. The wisdome of the flesh is death not onely temporally for so all dye but eternally yet how doe men beare themselves by their carnall wisdome yea so much that it teacheth them how to sleight the wisdome of God revealed in his holy Word and will and will be subject no further to it then where it erosseth not theirs but see the misery of their wisdome verse 7. This wisdome is enmity against GOD it is not subject to the Law of God true say some that is de facto but it may be if it will nay the next words marre that neither indeed can be and verse 8. they that are in the flesh cannot please GOD that is they that are in an unregenerate estate in the pleasure of these sinnes and have not had the guilt of repentance from God they cannot in this estate please God all they doe in point of Religion are but splendida peccata as St. Augustine termes them guilded sinnes or sinnes per accidens sinnes in that respect that the person is not justified or sanctified that doth them their cause therefore is lamentable the wrath of God abides upon them for sinne though they will not be sensible of it 5. And lastly to stand upon no more acceptions the flesh is sometimes taken for the unregenerate part of a regenerate man for wee are but regenerate in part either in faculty of soule or instruments of body we are not perfectly and wholly sanctified so that no corruption or sinne remains in us therefore in Scriptures that is in us is called flesh and the regenerate is called Spirit thus Rom. 8.1 you have them opposed there is then no condemnation to those that are in Christ that walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and thus againe verse 4. that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled on us who walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And Verses 12.13 therefore Brethren we are not Daughters to the Flesh to live after the Flesh that is to live after the motions and corrupt imaginations of our owne corrupt heart is minde for of those can come no good we are no debtors to the flesh for any thing wee can doe after the wisdome of it or the direction of it but wee are debtors to the Spirit who is still moving to goodnesse and to put us forward in that way which will save our poore soules If we live after the Flesh we shall dye but if we mortifie the deeds of the